Date: Fri 04-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Kate-Zimmerman-Pipe-Organ

Full Text:

NO MOSS GROWS UNDER HER FEET!

(with photo)

By Shannon Hicks

Music populates the world, along with the growing groups and individuals who

perform on the instruments that create the music of our lives. Like anything

in life, there are instruments that are more commonly known and others that

are not as prevalent, so there are fewer musicians who play them.

One instrument of the latter case is the pipe organ, most commonly heard in

churches and cathedrals. A keyboard controls the flow of air to this

magnificent instrument's pipes, where sound is produced following woodwind

principles.

By the 10th Century, simple organs were widely used in religious services

throughout Europe, then the Middle Ages saw the rise of positive (indoor

tabletop) organs, as well as of early pedal keyboards. Solo stops (the sets of

individual pipes of graduated size) were introduced during the Renaissance.

Passersby at Trinity Church lately may have noticed the lovely sounds of the

church's pipe organ wafting out some of the windows late in the afternoon,

especially more so once school finished for the year. Some of these sounds are

thanks to Kate Zimmerman, 16, who will be a senior at Newtown High School this

fall. Kate has a lot of credits to her name, one of the latest being that she

is a pipe organ player and has played music for some of the Sunday services as

of late. Those melodic sounds coming from within Trinity are Kate's

rehearsals, either on her own or with instructor Norene Walters, Kate's

teacher and the organist and choirmaster at Trinity.

"I played the piano for awhile, but then I got sick of it so I didn't

practice. I was really interested in the organ, though, which I had heard in

church so much," the young talent says. "My mom suggested [taking lessons],

and I met the teacher and that's how it happened."

All of the Zimmerman children have had musical instruction, with parents Carol

and Frank very supportive of what their children choose. In addition to Kate's

piano lessons, younger sister Kendall, 11, plays the clarinet, and brother

Andrew, 8, takes piano lessons. Kate's mom, Carol, "sort of" plays the piano,

her daughter reports.

Kate took piano at Suzuki from age three to five, then began again at age

nine, when she was in fourth grade. Her lessons continued through middle

school, but when she entered high school she stopped again because athletics

became a big part of her life.

Kate plays field hockey and lacrosse, but once her lessons on the pipe organ

began, in November of her sophomore year - right after field hockey season -

she decided to re-budget her time and include the organ lessons as well as

athletics. All this, on top of keeping up with a full course of studies at

school, keeps Kate, to say the least, very busy.

"It's a lot of work, especially during sports seasons, but I really like it,"

she says.

Although the instruments may be grouped in the same category musically -

keyboard instruments - principles of piano and pipe organ are different, says

Kate. It helps that Kate likes the organ a lot, maybe even more than the

piano, which is always a great inspiration to continue practicing.

"You have to use your feet, which is completely different," she says.

Kate has not played full services yet, but she has been allowed to perform one

or two songs during a service about seven times so far. Her first performance

was at the end of last summer; her most recent was in Philadelphia last month,

when she participated in the Pipe Organ Encounter 1995.

"That's really the only recital I've ever done, outside of church," she said

last week, a few days after returning from the conference. "I'm usually

nervous anyway, but I've never made any huge mistakes," she continued with a

laugh. "I've always done OK."

Always busy, Kate had just returned from Hartford, where she had already spent

the morning and early afternoon at the Austin Organ Company, receiving a full

factory tour and going into the works of a pipe organ.

Kate was one of 50 organ students at the Encounter, a project of the American

Guild of Organists designed to further the interest of young musicians in the

pipe organ. Of the 50 who attended the conference, Kate was one of 25 who

performed. The Encounters have become so popular recently that after

invitations and information were sent out to members of the American Guild of

Organists, of which Kate's teacher is a member, organizers had to turn some

people away because the 50 available spaces filled up so quickly. Encounters

are held at six sites across the country.

Students at the Philadelphia Encounter went to the Patty Madden Organ Shop, a

smaller organ shop than the Hartford factory, but interesting nevertheless to

observe the production of all different kinds of organs and their works. She

also visited the Wannamaker Department Store, which boasts the largest pipe

organ in the country, and of course, there were lessons to be learned.

The Encounter offered a 2-to-1 student-teacher ratio, which gave everyone the

opportunity for a lot of hands-on, up-close teaching. Each student had their

own organ to practice on, so while the teacher would be working with one

student, the other would be able to continue practicing new techniques.

"It was very well organized," said Kate, who says she would certainly enjoy

the opportunity to repeat the Encounter experience. There is talk that an

Encounter may even by situated in New Haven next year, which would make it

that much easier for her to attend.

Not one to let moss grow under her feet, Kate's forthcoming adventure was to

spend the next six weeks at the University of Maryland participating in a

"Women in Engineering" program. She received a grant to study in the program,

and will have six college credits to her name upon completion, after studying

engineering and working hands-on with 50 other young women from across the

country.

Future plans aren't written in stone, but Kate - who enjoys studying any

branch of science, but loves physics and earth science especially - says she

would like to do something with aeronautics. The love of science and music

have been linked by many people, so Kate's scholastic choices should not

surprise anyone. She is also studying, at the same time, French and Spanish,

and would like to put those to use some day by traveling.

For much of the year, "I'm not home a lot," Kate understates, but in a few

weeks if you would like to see what a young, ambitious talent looks like while

growing, why not take a walk past Trinity Church some afternoon and listen for

the pipe organ? Chances are, that's where you will find Kate Zimmerman.